The story begins as the schooner sails out of Havana in June 1839, heading down the Cuban coast to drop off 53 Africans to work plantations. Shortly after the launch, the Africans revolt, led by Joseph Cinque. They order the Cuban sailors to head toward the rising sun, back to their home in Africa, but each night the Cubans reverse direction.
After zigzagging for two months, the ship reaches the Long Island Sound, where the Africans are captured and charged with high piracy and bloody murder. Their death sentence is a foregone conclusion.
But to their defense comes a group of Christian abolitionists and former President John Quincy Adams, who take their fight to the Supreme Court. The landmark case, almost 20 years before the Emancipation Proclamation, ends dramatically when the Court says the Africans were abducted in violation of international law and had a natural right to rebel for their freedom. The Africans are set free.
Drama aside, a noted scholar thinks the film will educate its audience. "This was a very important event in American history and a very important event in abolitionist history...I think it will be a very important film," said Dr. Clifton Johnson, director emeritus of the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University. Johnson, who has studied the incident for more than 40 years, was the historical consultant to DreamWorks.
Although Johnson declined to talk about the specifics of his work for DreamWorks, he was quick to point out an inaccuracy in the studio's press release. The release says 40 Africans rebelled when it was actually 49 adults and 4 children.
Fame's Debbie Allen will produce the screenplay written by David Fanzoni and Oscar-winner Steve Zallian (Schindler's List). It will be filmed on location in Los Angeles, New England and the Caribbean, beginning in February. In the meantime, Spielberg finishes his latest dino-pic, The Lost World: Jurassic Park.